MovieChat Forums > The Lost Patrol (1934) Discussion > Interesting score

Interesting score

posted 15 years ago by laddiebuck
2 replies | jump to latest

The score seemed adequate -- overdone by later standards, but appropriate for the time. What I was intrigued about was some of its choices. For instance, a few bars of Rule, Britannia while the two remaining sane men are chatting on the hill, talking about their civvy lives. Then God Save the King when the Sergeant sits down in the grave he has just dug.

Then at the very end Rule, Britannia again! It must have been less strange in the 30s, with the British Empire still reasonably intact. But given that the film was quite the opposite of glorious, still a strange choice.

[–] 16mmRay 15 years ago

The "Rue Brittania" is only on the British Territories release prints (which was used for the Warners DVD as it was the only complete 35mm print available). The US and Worldwide prints feature "Auld Lang Syne" as the finale. The nearly-complete musical score is available on a 3-CD album MAX STEINER THE RKO YEARS from Screen Archives Entertainment.

[–] nateba 13 years ago

I always rather preferred Steiner's RKO output to his Warner Brothers stuff. More raw energy IMHO. I looked for the cd set you mentioned. I guess it's out of print. There are some private sellers though. And oh my, but it's an expensive little bugger!

cinefreak